Hi everyone! My name is Victoria Ramsey. This is my 8th course in the MET program, and one I’m really looking forward to. Most recently, I’ve been working as a primary teacher in a small, independent school in North Vancouver that caters to students with learning disabilities. However, I’m just coming back from a 16 month maternity leave, and have moved into the public school system in Abbotsford. Looking forward to getting into the swing of things again and leaving my house! Aside from raising my little girl, Charlie, I love exploring the outdoors.
Because I am a new mom, my day bag currently is a diaper bag. It contains a mix of baby items – diapers, cream, sunscreen, baby wipes, band aid, a little pack of emergency essentials like Benadryl, and various baby snacks/bottles that change daily. As for my own items, I keep it pretty simple; I always carry my wallet, a hairbrush, phone, keys, and chapstick. As of late, my water bottle and heart rate monitor are also in there – I’m finding it’s easier to keep things in the bag at all times even if I don’t use them every single day (that’s the beauty of a diaper bag!). I consider myself to be pretty organized, so I rarely have random items in the bag.
Aspects of text technologies are evident throughout the items – namely, the packaging of items such as the sunscreen, diaper cream, band aid, and little emergency bag I carry, which states “mommin’ ain’t easy.” This last one, is perhaps the most interesting example of text in my bag, as it exemplifies the colloquial English language, rather than formal marketing and branding formats of labels and packaging.
I chose my everyday bag rather than my other bags such as my hiking bag, beach bag, or overnight bag for trips, because I feel it most accurately represents my activities and daily life lately. Becoming a mother has been all encompassing, and this bag certainly reflects that. The branding of the bag (Herschel) isn’t typically thought of as a brand of diaper bags. I chose this bag because firstly, I like the brand, and secondly, it connects me to the person I was before becoming a mother – the brand is geared towards younger generations, and reflecting a certain lifestyle that I felt attracted to. My day bag certainly did not look like this before becoming a mother, but I could have very well held the same brand of bag.